A Simple Game
by Dauq
Summary: One starry night, the Inuyasha-tachi decide to play a card game. Beyond the cards, their characteristics come into play. One-shot. Rated PG for slight language. Enjoy!


Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all characters/trademarks thereof are not mine, but instead belong to a wonderful woman named Rumiko Takahashi in Tokyo, Japan.  
  
~~~  
  
A Simple Game – by Dauq.  
  
A quarter moon hung in the night sky, a pale iridescent glow around its edges. Its luminance, pale and light, covered as a veil over the hushed landscape of the silhouetted forest. Floating in from the clouded west, a calm breeze filtered through the long grass to weave through the rough bark and smooth leaves of the trees – it smelled of a light rain, and hinted whispers of its coming. Wisps of clouds lining the western sky promised its arrival; the earth quivered, trees quaked, dozing animals trembled in anticipation.  
  
A flicker of orange light, dimly sheathing the surrounding circle of trees in a fiery glow, stood out among the tidings of nature in an unearthly phenomenon. Though fire was not of uncommon occurrence, the origin of this unusual flame was not of nature's circumstance. Concentrated, controlled, it alighted its circle in a calm, almost friendly, ambience.  
  
Sitting at its edges was five figures. Cast by the light of the fire, elongated shadows flickered behind them in distinctive trails, each a unique length and size. The fire was of their doing, but for nothing more than a source of light and comforting warmth against the shrouds of night around them. Despite the forest's benevolent appearance, it did nothing to quell their suspicions as the dwelling mysteries of the surroundings continued to prowl their imaginations. Although some of their conclusions were not entirely unwarranted, the calm of the forest eventually outwore their furtive glances and tensed muscles – they allowed themselves to be led into relieved security as the fire burned tiredly before them.  
  
"Bullshit!"  
  
The accusation hung in the air. Silence, abrupt and sudden, rushed between them. Sitting across the accuser, a figure leaned forward, eyes narrowing. "Are you sure?"  
  
"Keh! Of course!" came a haughty reply.  
  
On the opposite side of the fire, a smug smirk arose on the man's features. His accuser, confident, easily mirrored it. Reaching forward, a gloved hand moved to touch the pile . . .  
  
. . and flip over the first two cards.  
  
"Two aces. Sorry, Inuyasha."  
  
"Damn it, monk! You're cheating!"  
  
As nonchalant as ever, Miroku adjusted his small hand of cards, "And isn't that the supposed goal of this game?" he replied, voice perfectly humble.  
  
Fuming, the dog demon growled an unidentifiable reply. Ears prickling at the insult, the fox youkai sitting next to him bristled and snapped, "That wasn't very nice!" and earned himself a blow on the head.  
  
"Inuyasha!" a tenor of a female now, low and threatening. Placed atop his head, two dog-like ears swiveled and cringed at the sound. Whipping around to face his opponent, the flare of Inuyasha's temper was dwindled in comparison to the slow boil of fury standing just beneath the height of his chin.  
  
Defensive (and also mindful of his threatened welfare), Inuyasha was quick in response - "The brat deserved it!" - though not as equally brilliant.  
  
Surprisingly, he soon learned he was defending the wrong action. "Inuyasha! It's just a card game, nothing to get worked up about!" Kagome Higurashi placed a soothing hand at her temple, "Mou, this was a bad idea . . ."  
  
"On the contrary, Kagome-sama," Miroku commented, "it is rather entertaining. Who would of known such a simple game as this would easily reveal our bad points?"  
  
"Or in your case, the good," Sango muttered wryly, her hand clutching a rather large hand of cards. She hadn't had too much luck the past few rounds, thanks to a certain houshi, "being the most accomplished liar of all of us, this game is horribly easy for you."  
  
Eyebrows raising and a hand lifting to touch his heart in admonishment, the accused monk faked surprise and hurt, "Why Sango, your unfounded words pains me!"  
  
"Bullshit," she countered, covering an amused smile with the hand of cards she held in her hand. It was a rare occasion when she swore, but with the aptly named card game the group had played for the past hour, the "rare" occasion had quickly become a common commodity.  
  
"Yeah, bullshit!" another agreed, though with much more emphasis and practice. Inuyasha, the small quarrel with Kagome over, had sat back down and tossed in his hand of cards. No longer held together, the small rectangles, patterned with numbers and faces, slid and separated over the dust of the forest clearing. "I'm done, the game was stupid, anyway."  
  
"Hai, me too," Kagome sighed, also tossing in her hand, "I should have known from the start that Miroku-sama would be a good player. Besides, it must be getting late . . ." She inclined her head upwards, trying to locate the moon to estimate the time. The tall trees prevented her action, but Inuyasha informed her it was about six hours before dawn. She blinked at the unanticipated knowledge coming from the hanyou, but nodded just the same.  
  
With a nod and a yawn, the kitsune also surrendered his deck. Giving a cautious glance in the hanyou's direction, he carefully quipped, "You know, Inuyasha could've won pretty easily, too."  
  
The group looked at the small boy incredulously, albeit Inuyasha, who instead glared vehemently in his direction as a silent threat for Shippou to shut his mouth. The kitsune, precariously balancing on the border of safety, fully understood the promise the glare told him – painful death. Maintaining the deadly gaze, the kitsune slyly shifted over to where he'd be most safe – by Kagome. The hanyou quietly growled at the underhanded action, but was mostly ignored as Shippou, more confident in Kagome's useful presence, continued, "You guys wouldn't know, but youkai can easily tell when someone's lying: they sweat, their hearts speed up, their voices are a little higher, all that kind of stuff. I could sometimes tell when you guys tried to lie, but I bet it was much easier for Inuyasha, since he's a dog -"  
  
Inuyasha bristled angrily. Panicking slightly, the young kitsune quickly added, "– hanyou!" though the correction didn't seem to fare much better. Despite the close proximity to Kagome, Shippou feared his life span was suddenly a lot shorter. Gulping nervously, Shippou scooted himself until he was nearly clinging to Kagome's lap as he squeaked the rest of his observation, "But he didn't use it against you guys!"  
  
"Inuyasha . . ." Kagome was amazed, though also oblivious to the kitsune clutching her skirt in a near death grip. Pausing a moment, she reached a conclusion and smiled, "Inuyasha, you didn't want to use an unfair advantage against us?"  
  
"Keh!" Came the dismissive reply. A perfect indifferent response, if a disobedient blush hadn't crept up his cheeks. Easily seen in the bright firelight, the reddening color of his cheeks betrayed the half-demon's embarrassment.  
  
Miroku blinked. Originally the supposed champion of the game, he considered Shippou's observation carefully. One hand tentatively stroking the bottom of his chin, he thought aloud, "Hm, so perhaps I was not as masterful as I had originally assumed . . ."  
  
Ignoring the pondering monk, Sango turned to Inuyasha, "Why did you do such a thing?"  
  
"Because Inuyasha, under all that rudeness, can be rather honest." Kagome answered for him, much to the hanyou's diminishing pride, "Well, at least sometimes." She added as an afterthought, bringing a few instances into mind, mainly involving certain memories of a certain woman.  
  
"Am not!" Was Inuyasha's adverse denial.  
  
"Bullshit!" Came the collective reply, and the group burst out laughing, both at the irony of their outburst and Inuyasha's hilarious reaction. If anything, Inuyasha had turned all the redder as he continued his attempts to convince the group otherwise.  
  
Laughing softly, Kagome gathered up the scattered cards and slipped them into her bulging yellow pack. Although commonly viewed as a silly game, she thought privately to herself, it certainly had revealed a few of their characteristics, as Miroku had earlier commented. For Inuyasha, for the most part abrasive and reserved, the game revealed his softer, honest center he rarely allowed to slip past his emotional barriers. As for Miroku, the game allowed him the opportunity to stretch the muscles of his deceiving nature, though as he smiled and shrugged, also proved he held no shame for it. Moving to Sango, the identity of every card laid facedown was openly mysterious, synonymous with her unintentionally elusive nature. And finally, for the young Shippou, the each card was attempt to prove himself or his maturity, a constant insecurity that surrounded him as dually as his older companions sitting around him. Each unique, each different, every reaction was apart of who they were, what they were, and how they had all grown up.  
  
A hanyou, a monk, a taijiya, and a kitsune all brought together by a game gracefully named "Bullshit." Kagome smiled despite herself.  
  
Wistfully, she gazed over at Inuyasha, who at the moment was fending off Miroku's casual, though still slightly (and characteristically) perverse jokes and pokes in the side. Adjacent to Kagome was Sango, who continued to lightly giggle at the hanyou's predicament while attempting to cover her smiles with a polite hand. Of course they all knew how bashful poor Inuyasha was, but with such a rare opportunity, none could resist temptation to force a blush or smile on his habitual stubborn features. It had been months since they all began their journey together, and still they were continuously discovering new things about one another: hidden layers, guarded secrets, painful memories. And with every new discovery came more bonded trust, essential to the perilous journey and foreboding hardships ahead of them.  
  
All the while, Shippou had continued his tight grip on Kagome's skirt and constant vigil on Inuyasha. As time passed, however, it soon became apparent that the hanyou had slightly more important matters at the moment than killing a particular kitsune. Relaxing slightly, Shippou resided to only sitting next to Kagome, but he inwardly dreaded the coming morning when his painful punishment was more than certain to come.  
  
Above the circle of laughter, a night sky hung as a glassy dome overhead. Dotted with white, blue and red stars and completed with a signature empyrean moon, the content, juvenile laughter echoed off its boundless walls, lifting and carrying far into the passing night.  
  
Fin.  
  
~~~  
  
Author's note: The card game the Inu-tachi was playing is called "Bullshit," where the objective is to numerically place cards facedown in a center pile until someone runs out of cards. The "bullshit" part comes when someone, not having the appropriate card, attempts to "lie" by substituting another, and gets caught. Thus, the accusation "bullshit!" and all in all, a wonderful time. I highly recommend it. ^^  
  
Thank you for reading my fanfic! 


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